Meet 3 Ghanaian Youth in Agricultural Entrepreneurship

With the well known fact of employing about 60 percent of Ghana’s population, agriculture seems to be the hope of the increasing unemployed youth and a sector which has the potential to save the country from its economic woes. But with all these facts known from every primary school level, the agricultural sector looks unattractive to the Ghanaian youth with only a handful getting into it.

As we celebrate Farmers Day, I will like to share with you three of the few Ghanaian youth who have taken the courage and are innovatively making a change in the agricultural sector. I hope it encourages us to see the light in this vital sector and propel all of us to make it flourish.

Solomon Elorm Allavi – Syecomp Business Services

Solomon established and manages Syecomp Business Services. The company strives to implement market-driven information and communication technology (ICT) solutions to address the limited access to marketing outlets for smallholder farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural value chain from the farm gate to the market.

Syecomp Business Services Ltd started operations in 2006 in Akuafo Hall at the University of Ghana as a student-operated small business to complement the monthly allowance Solomon received from his parents. The focus then was to address the dire needs of students related to their project/research works and thesis. The business became much more streamlined in 2007 after being competitively selected as a finalist in MyVision Project, a Databank Ghana and British Council support initiative for youth. The business was however shelved from mid 2007 to 2010 to enable Solomon concentrate on completing the mandatory National Service and undertake a two-year contract on some agricultural development projects in Ghana.The business thus became fully operational from the latter part of 2010.

David founded Agro Mindset Group-a mission-driven firm specializing in agribusiness ventures- at the age of 22. The focus of the group is to run highly profitable farm-based enterprises with long term growth potential and showcase this know how to young aspiring farmers in an industry-relevant manner. Agro Mindset strives to be on the cutting edge of innovation and create new industry standards across the spectrum.

The Agro Mindset Farms, a subsdiary of the group has produced over a million eggs in less than twelve months since its inception, which is a testament of a working model, and a compelling success story of the youth’s engagement in agriculture. The group aims to adopt more innovative, cutting edge technologies to produce animal feed, manage waste and construct solar panels.

In 2013 Alloysius and his business partner Emmanuel Addai co-founded Farmerline, a voice services and SMS platform to provide smallholders with improved access to information to make more informed decisions. Through a mobile app, these farmers receive important updates on market prices, weather forecasts, financing, input dealers, and farming tips. It also links them to agribusinesses and organisations who have previously struggled to access them.

And in just two years, Farmerline has grown to serve over 200,000 farmers in five countries – Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and Nigeria and with plans to expand to East Africa by the end of the year.

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